Rotary Clubs To Buy Webcams For Neo-Natal Intensive Care Beds

Philip E. Worley

Members of the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton recently donated money to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center to buy webcams for the center's neo-natal intensive care units. From left are Ted S. Rosenkrantz, a neonatologist at the University of Connecticut; Sam Bromage, Donna Porritt, club President Salin Low; Susan Chatfield, assistant district governor of Rotary's Area 9 and Shelly Ann Hope, a nurse manager.

Members of the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton recently donated money to the Connecticut Children's Medical Center to buy webcams for the center's neo-natal intensive care units. From left are Ted S. Rosenkrantz, a neonatologist at the University of Connecticut; Sam Bromage, Donna Porritt, club President Salin Low; Susan Chatfield, assistant district governor of Rotary's Area 9 and Shelly Ann Hope, a nurse manager. (Philip E. Worley)

Six Hartford-area Rotary clubs are collaborating on a fundraising effort to buy webcams that will let parents of babies born prematurely see their children in the hospital when they cannot be there.

Club leaders said they are looking to raise more than $200,000 to buy 72 webcams for the neo-natal intensive care units at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, in Hartford, and the University of Connecticut Health Center, in Farmington. That effort got started recently and the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton has just announced a $5,000 donation, enough to buy two webcams, club officials said.

The funds will purchase Internet-based Angel Eye NICU camera systems. These are set up at beds where babies are being treated and allow their parents to see them, according to a description of the system. The cameras also have some audio capability. Parents and other relatives can use the system with computers and mobile devices.

Salin Low, president of the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton, said she and heads of the five other Hartford-area clubs heard about the Angel Eye cameras at a regional Rotary conference in March. At that event they heard a presentation about a similar effort that was done in Massachusetts by the EvvGirl Foundation.

Low said she and the other Hartford-area Rotary members immediately thought of the Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

"It just seemed like the most perfect thing for us to run with. We looked at one another and said we ought to do this," Low said.

The clubs are working with the EvvGirl Foundation, which is based in Massachusetts. Todd Bard, director of the foundation, said it is working on similar projects at two hospitals in Massachusetts and the hope is to eventually buy webcams for all the neo-natal intensive care units in New England. Bard said he started the foundation in memory of his daughter, who died in a car accident in 2013 and had hoped to become a nurse in a neo-natal intensive care unit.

Bard said the cameras can provide an important link between premature babies who must stay in the hospital for an extended period and their parents, who cannot always be at there. He said family members who live far away can also view the children through the cameras.

Rotary club members and Bard approached officials at Connecticut Children's, who agreed to the idea.

"We agreed that this was absolutely something that we would love to have and should have," said Doreen Tarascio, vice president of donor relations at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center Foundation, which is working with the clubs on the effort. She said center officials expect that the first few webcams will be purchased and installed soon.

The donation to the Avon and Canton Rotary came from Donna Porritt and Sam Bromage of Avon, whose grandson was born prematurely in 2002. The couple gave $5,000 for the effort and the club is contributing $5,000 of its own funds as well, Low said.

Porritt said her grandson, Nathaniel Bromage, was treated at the neo-natal intensive care unit at UConn and is now 12.

"We did it out of gratitude for what the NICU did for Nathaniel," Porritt said. "The most important people in a baby's life are the parents and this will benefit parents and families so much."

In addition to the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton, the Rotary clubs in Farmington, Hartford, West Hartford, Newington along with Wethersfield and Rocky Hill are participating.

Cynthia Lang, president of the West Hartford club, said the six clubs held a golf tournament in June that raised money for the project.

"It really excites us to do something for young families," Lang said. "We want to be involved with young families."

Gina Herboldt, president of the Rotary Club of Wethersfield/Rocky Hill, said her group is working on a fundraiser in conjuntion with the Hartford Wolf Pack. The club is selling tickets to the Wolf Pack's game on Oct. 18 through its Facebook page and Herboldt said the team will give the club $5 for each ticket it sells to go to the webcam project.

"Each club is doing everthing it can, no matter how small," Herboldt said. "It's an awesome project and we're so excited."